Her brother, 17-year-old Mergim Bajraliu, a senior at Newtown High School, was at his nearby home when he heard shots.

He first went to a neighbour's house.

"Then we heard sirens," he said.

He rushed to the school on foot and saw a girl being carried out, he said. She looked badly injured. Another girl had blood on her face, he said.

Mergim soon found his sister and took her away from the scene.

He said she heard a scream come over the intercom at one point. He said teachers were shaking and crying as they came out of the building.

"Everyone was just traumatized," he said.

Eight-year-old Alexis Wasik, a third-grader at the school, said police were checking everybody inside the school before they were escorted to the firehouse.

Residents grieve following a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Picture: AFP

"We had to walk with a partner," she said.

One child leaving the school said that there was shattered glass everywhere.

A police officer ran into the classroom and told them to run outside and keep going until they reached the firehouse.

Brendan Murray, a 9-year-old fourth grader, said he was in the gym with his class when they heard "lots of banging.''

Parents leave a staging area after being reunited with their children following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

He said the teachers put the students in a nearby closet where they stayed for about 15 minutes before police officers told them to leave the building.

The boy said the students ran down a hallway where there were police at every door. He said ``lots of people were crying.''

One child leaving the school said that there was shattered glass everywhere.

A police officer ran into the classroom and told them to run outside and keep going until they reached the firehouse.

A woman waits to hear about her sister, a teacher, following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of New York City, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. An official with knowledge of Friday's shooting said 27 people were dead, including 18 children. It was the worst school shooting in the country's history. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Another boy told how bullets rushed by him in a hallway before he was pulled into a room by a teacher.

"It sounded like someone kicking the door," he said of the gunshots.

Eight-year-old Sofia Lebinski told Fox News of the terror of being in a classroom during the shooting.

"I felt scared," the young girl said, adding "everyone was shaking."

Parents leave a staging area after being reunited with their children following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of New York City, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. An official with knowledge of Friday's shooting said 27 people were dead, including 18 children. It was the worst school shooting in the country's history. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Sofia told how after her class heard the first gunshots their teacher - Miss Martin - locked the door and called 911.

"We heard big bangs, like gunshots," Sofia said.

A young child told CNN "there was like police officers down on the roof and in the hallways. They didn't really tell us anything".

"Everybody was like crying and stuff."

In this photo provided by the Newtown Bee, Connecticut State Police lead children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., following a reported shooting there Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Newtown Bee, Shannon Hicks) MANDATORY CREDIT

Parent Audra Barth, who was walking away from the school with her first-grade son and third-grade daughter, said a teacher took first-graders into the restroom after bullets came through the window.

Anguished parents came running as soon as the news broke.

Some of those parents will not be seeing their children again.

Robert Licata said his 6-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher.

Parents walk away from the Sandy Hook Elementary School with their children following a shooting at the school. Picture: AP

"That's when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door,'' he said. "He was very brave. He waited for his friends.''

Licata said the shooter didn't say a word.

Stephen Delgiadice said his 8-year-old daughter heard two big bangs, and teachers told her to get in a corner.

His daughter was fine.

People leave the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire House in tears after a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School A man opened fire Friday inside two classrooms at the Connecticut elementary school where his mother was a teacher, killing 26 people, including 20 children. AP Photo/The Hour, Alex von Kleydorff

"It's alarming, especially in Newtown, Connecticut, which we always thought was the safest place in America,'' he said.

Richard Wilford said his 7-year-old son, Richie, said he heard a noise that ``sounded like what he described as cans falling.''

The boy told him a teacher went out to check on the noise, came back in, locked the door and had the kids huddle in the corner until police arrived

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